I hate her so much…

I hate the way she smiles as if she's smirking at everyone and looking down her nose at them. I hate the way she plays with her hair all day in such a vain way. I hate the wrinkle she gets on her nose whenever she finds something funny. I hate the way she's friends with Zelda, so I have to be nice to her. I hate the way she stands, as if she's constantly posing for attention. I hate the way she acts uptight, even though she walks around in a Zero Suit that makes her practically naked. I hate everything about her, from the top of her blonde hair to the soles of her obnoxious feet.

And I hate that I can't get her out of my head.

I hate him so much…

I hate the way he always helps people out as if he considers himself higher than the rest us. I hate the way he fiddles with his hair in such an arrogant way. I hate the way he never opens his mouth when he laughs. I hate the way he's friends with Zelda, so I have to be nice to him. I hate the way he always wears his stupid hat and carries a sword everywhere he goes. I hate his sapphire eyes, and I hate everything about him, from the tip of his hat to those stupid heavy boots he wears.

And I hate that I can't get him out of my head.

Link sat and continued staring at Samus with a deep loathing. As she leaned forwards on a chair, in a conversation with Peach, his eyes narrowed as he stared harder. She almost caught his glare, but he looked away just as she turned to face him. She returned the hateful glare for a second while Link pretended to be looking at the floor. As she turned back to Peach, his eyes looked back at her while an angry grimace besmirched his face.

Unfortunately, this hadn't gone as unnoticed as they'd hoped, and Zelda, Marth and Peach were all fully aware of their distaste for each other, and they were planning on finding ways of stopping it. Zelda's latest plan was simple. They'd all be preparing dinner in the kitchen, and she figured that if Samus and Link just spent some time together, they would sort out their differences and become friends. As she invited Link into the kitchen, she crossed her fingers and hoped that her plan would work.

"Oh Link? Could you come here for a minute?"

Zelda beckoned over at Link and he walked towards her, casting one last sour look at Samus before turning his attention to Zelda.

"Yes?"

"I need some help in the kitchen, could you…?" Zelda paused. Link was already looking back at Samus.

"Link!" Zelda cried, snapping him out of his trance. "I need some help in the kitchen."

"I, er… fine," Link concluded, following Zelda through the double doors into the kitchen of Smash Palace. Unfortunately for him, a minute later Peach recalled that she needed to do something in the kitchen, and so Link was surprised to see Peach and Samus walking through the double doors a few minutes later.

Nudging Zelda, he whispered, "What's she doing here?"

"Oh, Samus?" Zelda replied sweetly, "She's going to be helping us. Besides, it can give you two a chance to get to know each other.

Link sighed and hoped that he wouldn't have to spend much time with Samus, unaware that Samus had just had the same conversation with Peach.

Once again, luck was against Link and Samus, as Zelda left them to do the washing up together whilst her and Peach 'rested'. Things didn't start off too badly, as they simply kept silent, until Samus opened her mouth.

"Careful!" she cried out, almost making Link drop the bowl he was washing.

"What was that for?" he retorted.

"You almost dropped that bowl!"

"Only because you yelled!"

Samus sighed and rolled her eyes. Link muttered something and went back to washing up. A few minutes later, as Samus held up a dish to look at it, she heard Link murmuring,

"Geez, do you have to do that every time?"

"What?" replied Samus angrily, putting down the dish.

"Every time you wash something, you just have to check your reflection. It's pathetic!"

"For your information," responded Samus with more edge in her voice, "I'm not checking my reflection. I'm not self-absorbed like you!"

Link put his dish back in the sink and took off his gloves. "Then why are you wearing lipstick?"

Samus suddenly grew defensive. "I'm not."

"Yes you are, it's obvious. Your lips are bright red. You look like something's stung them."

Samus' mouth fell open in shock.

"I do not, and I told you I'm not wearing lipstick!"

Samus barely had time to react before Link chucked a cup full of cold water at her. As the freezing water splashed her and she closed her eyes in shock, she heard Link chuckling.

"Your lipstick is running. You shouldn't lie, Samus."

Link turned back to his washing up with mirth, risking a quick glance back at Samus just in time to see her throwing something at him. Ducking, he heard an alarming smash from behind him and turned to see shards of a broken plate.

"Are you insane?" he yelled whilst standing up, "That could have really injured me!"

Samus threw another plate at him while he jumped out of the way. "That was the point!"

Growing impatient, Samus took a huge handful of dishes and continued to pelt them at Link, who was having a tough time dodging. Eventually, he picked up an unbroken one and threw it at her leg like a frisbee. It shattered on her leg and Samus screamed in pain. For a second, Link dared to stand up straight with triumph, until Samus tackled him and they both fell to the ground. Raising her fist, Samus was about to punch Link when they were both interrupted.

"What the hell is going on?"

Samus kept her fist raised, but turned to see Marth, who had just entered the kitchen to find it soaking, covered in shards of glass, and occupied by Link and Samus. Neither Samus nor Link felt like addressing what had happened, so Link pushed Samus off and asked, "Where did Zelda and Peach go?"

"They went into the garden. They told me not to come in but I heard screaming and things breaking. Mind telling me what was going on?"

Link stayed silent and got straight up, walking out of the kitchen to go to the garden. Samus tried to get up and slipped a little, before following him to find Peach.

Link burst into the garden, still wet, and quickly found Zelda. As he approached her, Samus burst in looking for Peach, equally soaking. Before either of them could say anything, Zelda took advantage of the fact that they were both there by quickly saying,

"Oh, how nice of you to join us! We were just about to play tennis; surely you'll be joining us?"

Samus immediately shook her head, but Peach pulled on her arm. "Please Samus, it'll be fun!"

Reluctantly agreeing, Samus looked over to Zelda to see that she had persuaded Link to stay. Zelda and Peach didn't think it would be wise to let them play against each other, so Zelda played against Samus while Peach got a chance to talk to Link.

"So Link… how are things with Samus?"

Link raised his eyebrows. Peach knew what he meant.

"Alright, so they're not going too well. Why do you think that is?"

Link shrugged. "I don't know. She's just so difficult. She brings out the bad side in me, this… power, this rage."

As Link finished his sentence, a tennis ball flew past his head and hit the wall next to him, missing his head by inches. Looking up, he saw Samus smirking, and Zelda chirping, "Maybe we should change sides."

The match was uneventful, as Peach couldn't think of any more questions, and Link was focussing on cheering for Zelda. By the end, Samus had won, but Link congratulated Zelda, and started playing against Peach. As Zelda and Samus sat down, Zelda moved towards her in order to ask her questions.

"So Samus… what's up with you and Link?"

Samus shrugged the same way Link had. "No idea, he's just always been a dick to me."

Zelda raised her eyebrows this time. "I'm sure there's been some tension on both ends, Samus. What's so bad about him?"

Samus shrugged again. "I don't know. He really brings out the worst in me, the way he's always showing off and making a big fuss over you. I guess he should, since you're going out and all, but-"

"We're not going out," interrupted Zelda. "What made you think that?"

Samus took a few seconds to think, then shrugged for the third time.

"Don't know, just assumed. You definitely seem very close."

"Well, we are, we're just not going out. As far as I know, Link's single."

"Doesn't surprise me," said Samus loudly with a chuckle. However, Zelda was interrupted by Marth, who ran into the garden and whispered something about seeing Zelda and Peach urgently. Zelda called Peach over, and they risked letting Samus play against Link.

"What is it?" Peach muttered impatiently.

"It's about Link and Samus," Marth replied, "You should give up trying to make them be friends."

"What? Why?" Zelda argued.

"Did you see what they did to the kitchen? Things were smashed, water was everywhere-"

"Just look at them! They're getting along perfectly!"

Peach pointed to Link and Samus, furiously whacking tennis balls to each other, unaware of what they were saying.

"So," whispered Samus in between points, "How can you call me names when you got rejected by Zelda?"

Link was shocked, but didn't let it show. "She didn't reject me. We've never been going out."

"Sure," Samus giggled, rolling her eyes, "You saved her life and she still didn't want to date you… and you call me pathetic?"

Link blushed with fury and struck the next ball as hard as he could. As it zoomed straight past Samus and she went to pick it up, he made a shocking comeback.

"So Samus, why so harsh? Your time of the month again?"

Samus dropped her racket, then picked it up and gripped it so tightly that it started to crackle. As she and Link hit more shots towards each other with venom and hatred, Zelda and Peach misunderstood the warnings.

"See? They're playing, they're talking…"

Peach was interrupted by a crashing sound. Link had hit the ball too hard and it had smashed straight through a wall. A solid brick wall.

Samus screamed at Link, and he threw his racket at her. She ducked it, then charged at him with her racket. He dodged a few blows, then received a strike in the side. Wincing, he grabbed huge handfuls of her hair and started pulling as hard as he could, before the fight was broken up by Zelda and Peach. Zelda dragged away Link, whilst Samus needed to be subdued by both Peach and Marth.

With Samus and Link safely away from each other, Zelda and Peach reluctantly gave up the idea of them ever being friends. Hours later, Link was sat in the living room reading a book, while Zelda and Peach had waited for their cake from the earlier incident in the kitchen to cool, and were now applying icing.

Link scanned the pages of his book, not really paying any attention, and tried unsuccessfully to get his mind off Samus. Unfortunately, Samus was also looking for something to read, and entered the living room. Her and Link glanced at each other, gave a small 'hmph', and went back to ignoring each other.

Samus successfully found a book, although she knew it wouldn't keep her mind from Link. She was on the verge of leaving before she heard quietly, from just behind Link's book,

"Bitch…"

Gritting her teeth, Samus grabbed the book out of Link's hands and threw it across the room.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing…"

Leaning closer, she angrily demanded, "If you have something to say, say it to my face!"

"Alright," replied Link, folding his arms, "I said you're a bitch. Happy?"

Samus growled with anger. "Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Me? You're the one who started it this morning with the dishes!"

"What about before that? You hated me the moment I came here!"

"Well I haven't seen you do any better! I'm normally a nice guy, but you bring out the worst in me! What does that say about you?"

"You're blaming me for this?"

Samus and Link both felt their rage reach boiling point. Link stood up, but Samus stood still in front of him.

"Bitch!"

"Dick!"

"Slut!"

"Twat!"

"Whore!"

Samus took great offense and screamed, but Link grabbed her arms before she could do anything. Struggling desperately, they stumbled backwards as Samus tried to hit Link. Eventually, she got a leg free and kicked him in the knee. He stumbled backwards and let go of her, and she charged towards him. At the exact same time, they both tried to get a hold on each other, and as a result, for a split-second, their arms were wrapped around each other. As they both furiously struggled, they caught a glimpse of each other's eyes, and saw the same thing. And it wasn't rage.

For one more second, they were completely still, before Samus launched herself straight at Link and pressed her lips against his, wrapping her arms frantically around him. Link was surprised, but quickly clung to Samus even harder and overpowered her slightly, making her stagger backwards under the full force of his kiss. As she stumbled into a wall, their lips fell apart as they gasped for breath. Nobody knew what to say, until Samus whispered,

"I didn't tell you to stop."

For the first time in a conversation with Samus, Link grinned and pulled Samus back towards him. Her arms flailed around, feeling for something to grab hold of as she moved backwards, knocking over small tables and lamps. Eventually, clasping her hand on Link's back, she was able to stand up to his passion and kiss him just as strongly. His grip on her Zero Suit got tighter as he started kissing her neck, much to her delight.

However, the moment was interrupted as Zelda and Peach burst into the room after hearing the insults they'd been screaming at each other moments ago. Finding Link and Samus with their arm tightly wrapped around each other, with Link's hand on Samus' behind, and Samus' lipstick smeared over Link's mouth, they didn't dare speak, until Link stated,

"Well? Aren't you going to give us some privacy?"

Zelda slowly pulled the door shut, still dumbstruck, as Link started to say "Now where were we?" only to be cut off by Samus making another passionate attack. Link's nails dug into her Zero Suit as he ripped a large tear in the side of it and began to pull.

"Wait!" cried Samus, breaking the kiss. "I only have two Zero Suits."

"Well then," replied Link, pulling harder, "We'll just have to make this one count."

---

Hours later, Link and Samus were snuggled up on the couch underneath a blanket. Link was running a hand through her long blonde hair, and Samus was smiling and sighing like a lovesick teenager, letting Link do whatever he pleased as he continued what he had been saying.

"I guess we had something building up, it just wasn't the anger we thought it was."

"I suppose so," she replied without a care in the world. Turning her head to Link, their sapphire eyes met. "Tell me what else you hate about me."

"I hate how much I love your smile," Link began through a smirk, "I hate how much I love the beautiful way you stand… I hate how much I love the way you demand respect, and I hate how much I love you, full stop."

"But most of all, I hate how much I couldn't stop thinking about you, even before this."

"Link?"

"Yes?"

Samus pulled Link's arms around her with a smile.

"I hate how much I love you too."